Today in Mighty Girl history, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked into William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans surrounded by a team of U.S. Marshals; thus, becoming the first African-American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in the South. When Ruby arrived at school that first day in 1960, an event commemorated by Norman Rockwell in his famous painting "The Problem We All Live With," she was met by a vicious mob shouting and throwing objects at her.
One of the federal marshals, Charles Burks, who served on her escort team, recalls Ruby's courage in the face of such hatred: "For a little girl six years old going into a strange school with four strange deputy marshals, a place she had never been before, she showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn't whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier. We were all very proud of her." Continue reading Continue reading